The Nightfury
by Ellisama
Summary: When crime plagues the once peaceful city of Berk, a masked vigilante named The Nightfury takes it upon himself to defend his home with his crazy gadgets and lightning-fast black motorcycle. Can he stay out of the grasp of the Queen of Crime, or worse, his father's? Hiccstrid Modern AU


_**Hi readers. Sorry I've been gone for such a long time! I still write, go to my tumblr (ellisamasramblings) to see all the drabbles I wrote in the past few years! (Except for the scandalous ones. Really, if you want to read that stuff, you'll have to send me a private message because I'm not publishing that stuff.)**__  
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_**To all my Naruto readers: In the Shadows will be updated soon! I haven't given up, just took a very extended break to get my life sorted. Thanks for all your support, I did read your reviews and they were lovely. Without further ado, my baptism into the Httyd Fandom:**_

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_**Chapter One - This is Berk  
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When his father had told him to get a real hobby instead of spending all his time in front of a TV and/or computer, he sure didn't have this in mind. But hey, what your parents don't know can't hurt them right? Or at least that's what Hiccup thought when he went out to play 'soccer' with 'friends from school' every day after class. His dad was way too happy that Hiccup was finally starting to make offline friends and playing_ real_ sports to notice the oil stains in his clothing or the grease stains under his fingernails.

Instead of finding a hobby, he'd gotten himself a job. There was a garage at the end of town close to the highway that'd had posted a _'help wanted' _add online that he'd happened to browse past. Though it hadn't been the actual job that had attracted him; he'd really needed the money to buy a new gaming computer since his previous one was starting to become seriously outdated and his father refused to pay for what he called Hiccup's _obsession_. But he'd always liked race games: hell he spend half his free time playing them. And the good thing about employers wanting you to work for 'off the record' was that they didn't ask for parental permission or an ID. So one trip to the south of city later, and he had himself an afterschool job as cleaner at Gobber Garage. He'd been 14.

Fast forward 4 years, a lot of grease and explosions and the talking fishbone had somehow gone from a clumsy cleaner boy to…. _this_.

Hiccup fired up the blue truck. A rattly, smokey blast shot out the tailpipe like the cough of a dedicated chain smoker, blowing the smell of gasoline into the garage. "Seems like a classic case of a clogged fuel return line." Hiccup analyzed while his costumer winced. "When was the last time you cleaned the air filter?"

He took the man's guilty silence for a 'never' and smiled while he gave the old truck a another good look. The thing looked older than he himself, and a clogged fuel line was probably the least of his problems. "Don't worry, nothing I can't fix!" He reassured the man.

"I need my car to bring my kids to school tomorrow, so I really can't afford to leave it overnight." The man said with some urgency in his voice. "So some friends of mine told me that your garage specialized in _quick jobs_." After dealing for 4 years with these kind of people, Hiccup could read through these people like children's book: amusingly easy. 'I can't afford a big expense or a new car' was the kind of people that came to this edge of town to have them repair their already beat-up vehicle.

Hiccup's smile broadened, trying to ease the man. "You've come to the right place! I'll fix it in an hour, tops!" He reassured him. "Just do your groceries or something, you can borrow my bike, and then come back and I'll have fixed it." He gestured to his old bicycle that stood in the corner. There was not a speck of rust to be found on the bike, as Hiccup liked to take good care of all his babies.

The customer was still looking a bit uncomfortable, so he threw in another trick Gobber had taught him: "And it won't cost you much since we're having a 20% discount on all repairs right now!" After dropping that bomb the man was all too happy to leave and let Hiccup fix the car.

"Another one of those?" His employer's gruffy voice sounded from the back of the Garage. "This is going off your retirement fund, boy."

"You're not paying me retirement money, Gobber." Hiccup easily countered while inspecting the pegboard of tools.

His mentor hobbled out of his little office that was not visible to the customers. After a few too many accidents with his beloved vehicles the man had a permanent limp in his right leg."And this is why!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes while he opened the canister, seeing an almost black air filter. "Stop whining at me for using a trick that you taught me in the first place."

"I taught ye to sweeten the deal, not to give out free labor." Gobber said while he inspected their revenue list. Since Hiccup dealt with most of their customers he knew that while his teacher liked to yell at him, his complaints were ungrounded. Their business was booming and Hiccup provided cheap labor.

"If you think I'm going to clean this out perfectly with soap and all then you're mistaken. I'll just give it a quick clean-up with the vacuum, dust off the canister and-"

Gobber cut him off. "And probably change the oil and check the tires while you're at it."

Hiccup lifted a single brow. "I was going to say clean out the fuel line if it has any clogs." He deadpanned. Since Hiccup dealt with most of their customers he knew that while his teacher liked to yell at him, his complaints were ungrounded. Their business was booming and Hiccup provided cheap labor.

But Gobber gave him a dubious look. "I know ye Hiccup. Damn good at fixing stuff, too damn good for yer own sake, but you make a horrible salesmen." He rattled on while he got the vacuum cleaner so Hiccup could do his job. "God knows what will happen if I ever kick the bucket. Doomed, this place, doomed!"

Hiccup was not impressed by the dramatic display. "Who does most of the work around here again?"

"If you mean by work all your little projects in the back, then you." Gobber exclaimed, his voice thick with amusement. "Otherwise, this old ceiling fan works harder than you!" He gestured at the old thing, lazily spinning rounds ever since Hiccup started working here. Gobber had refused to let him fix it, maybe out of sentimental attachment, probably out of fear what he would turn it in too. Which was a shame because Hiccup had great plans for the old fan that could triple the air circulation in their dusty old garage.

Hiccup would have retorted to that if he didn't spot the familiar blue and white of the Berk Police rolling up their parking lot. Gobber send Hiccup a warning look. "Hey, why don't you check that leak while you're at it?"

He didn't have to say twice. Within seconds was on his back on a creeper, checking out whatever was wrong with the old truck and conveniently hidden from the view of the two officers who just came in through the front door.

"Good morning officer. How can I help ye?" Gobber greeted them good-naturedly.

The cops greeted him back and Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. He didn't recognize their voices, so if the worst happened they wouldn't be able to identify him. The female cop asked Gobber if he'd seen one of the license plates in his shops, or a black Mercedes. Gobber laughed it off, saying that they didn't get those kind of customers in his shop. Still, the police wanted to take a look, and his employer gave them free reign.

When he heard their footsteps fade away and the back door slam shut, he rolled himself from under the truck enough to see Gobber's face. "Another car theft?"

"Fifth one this month as far as I'm aware." The mechanic answered without looking at his apprentice who was covered in black grease from head till toe. "And we're not even halfway through October." Gobber mutter something under his breath that Hiccup didn't quite catch, but he was sure it had something to do with the good old times.

The increased car theft didn't even cover half the problem that Berk was facing. People were getting assaulted, a few had even gotten seriously injured or killed and the streets were not safe at night. There had always been some crime in the city ever since Hiccup could remember, but the last few years it had taken a turn for the worse. Nobody would have believed him 5 years ago if he had told them that police sirens and gunshots were now regular sounds in the dark streets of Berk. The only reason his bike was still in his possession was because he'd made the locks himself, and nobody broke his locks. But the rest of the town wasn't nearly so safe, and the police was at their wits end at explaining why the crime had increased so much in the past few years. Politicians were pointing fingers though, which hadn't accomplished more than a lot of creative insults and more police funding. Still, the situation was getting worse and Hiccup sometimes wondered darkly if the city would still be standing in 10 years at this rate.

"I'm sure you have nothing to do with this, riiight?" Gobber asked him in a teasing tone, but as Hiccup met his eyes he couldn't escape the concealed suspicion.

Oh well, it couldn't be helped. "What, me?" Hiccup said with practiced innocence. "If I wanted to steal one of yours, easy access and all that."

Gobber was about to make a witty comeback, if it hadn't been for the familiar creaking of the back door: The police was back. Without a second thought Hiccup returned to 'fixing the leak', a job he would have cleared in moments normally. However, when the cops came in he was suddenly very thorough in his work. So thorough, they wouldn't even notice that he was there.

The police, however, told him they hadn't found anything and thanked Gobber for his time and patience. With a polite goodbye they left the shop, and Hiccup resurfaced from his hiding spot.

"One day you're going to tell me why you're so scared of those nice fellows." His employer narrowed his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. "I mean, what would they do with a talking fishbone?"

"Oh haha." Hiccup shrugged off the inquiry, turning on the vacuum cleaner to do what he'd set out to do: fix this truck. If the sound also blocked out all conversation, then that was a nice benefit. His reasons for trying to escape the police notice were nothing like what Gobber had been implying ever since he first got him to play along, but Hiccup kept them to himself all the same. Better safe than sorry was the first lesson the man had taught him, after all.

Within record time the young mechanic cleaned and replaced the air filter, cleaned out the clogs and even managed to do some extra touch ups when Gobber wasn't looking. When he looked at his watch he saw that more than an hour had passed: it was almost six o'clock. Well, customers were often late.

He washed his hands, cleaned his face and pulled his hair out of its short ponytail. It hardly came halfway to his jaw but it was still long enough to get in the way while working, so that and the apron were purely a safety precaution. Together with the black stains on his face and hands it made a nice disguise in case somebody who might recognize him walked into the shop. But here in his own corner in the back of the garage, safely protected from prying eyes by curtains, he had no need to be dirty. He bowed over his latest designs. He'd ordered an even more sinisterly green colored headlight online and was itching for it to come in so he could add it to Toothless. His designs for the paintjob were pinned to the wall, waiting to be completed. Black was a classic and obvious choice and he had finished it months ago, but he was still working on some red accents. After the painting was done, he had plans to improve the aerodynamics a bit with some small adjustments. His motorcycle was fast, but Hiccup knew he could make it even faster.

Ever since he'd found what was left of a once beautiful motorcycle, he'd spend all his free time here in the garage to turn it into something that could actually ride. It was a slim sport model, too tinkered with to still be associated with the brand it once had belonged to . But it was build for speed, and Hiccup had poured all his love, time and effort into getting it to fly again. And a few months ago, they had done just that. The wind in his hair, leaning into every turn he'd made like he actually knew what he was doing. If anybody said that racing videogames were not educational then, they had not seen Hiccup ride on Toothless. Sure, he'd fallen off when he braked too fast, but that made him think of a new kind of helmet that was both aerodynamic _and_ safe.

He would have worked on it too, if it weren't for the fact that he heard the front door slam open with a hard cling off the bell.

"Is anybody here?!" Came a distressed male voice that Hiccup recognized as his customer. He heard Gobber come out of his office and stuck his head out between the closed drapes.

The man's clothing was dirty as if he had taken a nose dive into the streets. There was bruising on his face, and the tell-tale signs of a broken nose were making the situation glaringly obvious. He came out of his little corner and hurried to the man. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alive. I got out alive." The man said with a shaking voice, eyes wide and sounding unsure about his own statement. He guided the man to a chair while Gobber got him a glass of water while muttering the word _'shock'._

"Tell me what happened." Hiccup asked the man, gripping his shoulders while he tried to get him to calm down.

The man was wheezing. "I was just shopping, you know? At Thorsstreet, just minding my own business when suddenly I was pulled into an alley! I mean, out of nowhere, I hadn't done anything!" Hiccup's look darkened. He knew this city like the back of his hand, and his vivid imaginary provided all the details the man could not. He could almost smell the alcohol and cat piss stench that perpetually hung in the air in that particular part of town.

The man continued, unaware of Hiccup's thoughts. "And, then they told me to give me all!"

"And you did?" Gobber asked while he handed the man the glass of water. His hands were shaking violently, making the water spill on the floor.

"Of course!" The man exclaimed. "That's what the police always says, right? Don't try to be a hero, let the police do the fighting."

Hiccup bit his tongue at that remark. The rest of the story was old news to the city of Berk and the police was still handing out that damned slogan. "Your nose is bleeding pretty badly, I think it might be broken."

The man looked perplexed and wiped some blood from his nose. He winced when his hand touched his face, contorting into a grimace. "I… I didn't even…"

"It's okay." Hiccup took the glass from the man's hand before he let it fell and shattered to a million pieces. "We'll get you some pain killers and drive you to the hospital. I fixed your car."

The man looked at his parked blue truck as if was seeing a ghost of the past and merely nodded.

"I'm going to have to call the cops. You better go home before it gets too dark. " Gobber said, looking more at Hiccup than at the victim. Hiccup nodded, knowing that was his sign to leave.

"No! Don't leave!" The man yelled in distress, looking at Hiccup with big pleading eyes. "I still have to pay you!" If Hiccup had been less stressed, he would have rolled his eyes. Some people had weird priorities.

Instead he tried to sound as soothing as he could muster. "It's okay, the police will take care of it and make sure you'll get your money back, and then you can pay us." He said in a calm, even tone and he could see the man visibly relax. "Worry about yourself first, and when you're calmed down you can always come back." The man nodded gratefully.

Hiccup turned to his bike. Or where his bike would have been if he hadn't borrowed it to the victim. "What happened to my bike?" He asked, trying to keep the misplaced anger out his voice. He'd had that bike for quite some time, and those locks were more than a days work each.

The man seemed bewildered by his question, and once again he had to bite his cheek. Now was not the time for his short fuse, he knew that. He snuck a look at Gobber, who was currently on the phone with the police.

Well, he had to get that bike back and he sure as hell wasn't going to walk to the Valhalla neighborhood of Berk. So he snuck into his little corner, took off his apron and switched for his more comfortable leather jacket and snatched the unfinished helmet from its shelf. Then, he pulled off the protective cover off his motorcycle. Even though unfinished, it was a beauty that would get Hiccup home much faster than his simple bike. He sneaked a peak out of his corner to Gobber to make sure he wasn't looking at him, which he wasn't and then quickly rolled the bike out of the backdoor while shouting a hasty 'bye!'.

The night was falling over Berk like a dark cloudy cloth, and Hiccup made a mental note to research if night vision could be built into a motorcycle helmet. It was dangerous to be out at this time of the night, but Hiccup started up the engine anyway. He zipped up his jacket and put on his helmet, and then sped off into the heart of a city. When the first light blinked into life he was met with a gust of car exhaust. While the traffic was horrible, Toothless was agile enough to zigzag his way through the cars and make his way into the Valhalla Sector in the South-West of Berk in record time without even breaking a single speed limit. Not that the police would have noticed: they had their hands full with the more serious crimes. The city was bleeding out; it's citizens were fleeing to the safety of the suburbs to avoid the things that happened in the dark and nobody really talked about.

When he reached the grocery store at Thorsstreet, the streets were deserted. Windows were closed, doors barred and a single streetlight was flickering in a desperate attempt to shed some light to this neglected part of town. He hadn't replaced the headlights yet, but maybe that was for the best. He choose to for now blend in with the darkness. It was his friend, and if the robbery in plain daylight had been anything to go by, then it had been too long since he had been acquaintance by it.

Hiccup was tall but scrawny and if anybody had been advised _against_ playing a hero in this godforsaken town, it was him. But looks could be deceiving. Hiccup rode quietly through the street, avoiding the cracks and the potholes. There was no sign of his bike but Hiccup hadn't really expected there to be. Thieves were nothing if not opportunistic. It took him mere minutes before he located the particular ally where the man had been attacked. Freshly dried blood was on the pavement, marking the dimly lit spot. Other than that there was a feint air of vomit and graffiti in the air and with little effort Hiccup found what he had been looking for in the first place: the mark.

While the police was still doing a wild dog chase, Hiccup had quickly figured out that the only reoccurring feature of the assaults and murders had been the graffiti. At every picture of the crime scene he'd hacked off the police database there was somewhere a small mark to be found, sometimes small, often stylized, but open and clear for those who saw it. He'd first noticed it on accident, when the school had been claimed. At first it looked like ordinary vandalism, but Hiccup vaguely recognized the small red symbol that dotted the i of _shit_ as the same graffiti he'd seen scratched into one of Gobber's second hand cars. After that he was able to identify the marks of the several gangs that were currently waging war over Berk. Currently, this territory was claimed by the Terrible Terrors, a smaller group that possessed small pieces of territory if the yellow cat symbol was anything to tell by.

The man hadn't been robbed because of his money, but to tell the neighborhood that they now belonged to the Terrible Terrors, and that they were not afraid to act out their reign during daylight too.

The thing about the Terrible Terrors was, however, that they were a lot of bark and very little bite. In the face of the bigger gangs like, say the Deadly Nadders, they fled for the hills. And in the face of the Nightfury… well they would think twice about setting a foot into this neighborhood for a very long time.

With a click Hiccup finally turned on his headlight, lighting up the alley in an eerie lime green that made the shadows dance as he raced through the streets at full speed without waking as much as a baby.

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_**I hope you enjoyed it! See you at the next chapter! ~Ellisama**_


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